“Someone hand me a half-inch combination wrench,” Pete said from under the car.
There was a discussion about tools. The car-wash owner went to his office and returned with the proper wrench. Pete didn’t need it, but it made him look much more impressive when he crawled out, saying, “Try it now.”
The car started instantly.
“Hey, you sure know cars.” Tiburon looked at Pete thoughtfully. “I’m gonna talk to some people could maybe use you. The pay’s real, real good. I mean, real good. Comprendes?”
Tiburon was saying that the job was illegal, and asking Pete if he understood. Pete nodded.
*
Jupiter was dozing in the Honda when he heard Ty’s voice somewhere near the garage door.
“Just came to get something out of my car.”
“Don’t make it a habit. We don’t like people coming here all day,” Max’s voice said.
Jupiter sank down out of sight.
“What’s up?” Jupiter whispered.
Ty leaned in as if searching the car. “The trick worked! Tiburon told Pete someone’d come for him at the car wash and take him to a garage.”
“When?”
“Today sometime. If this is where the chop-shop is, they have to come past you.”
After Ty had gone, Jupiter settled down to watch again. He was excited now. In the Honda, he was in a perfect position to see where they took Pete. Then he’d know where the chop-shop was hidden.
An hour passed. Then two. Five o’clock came and went. At six, Jupiter heard Max lock the big double doors. Pete had not appeared. No one had. What if they’d been wrong all along, and the chop-shop was somewhere else?
Jupiter’s walkie-talkie suddenly gave a tiny beep. Jupe flicked it on. Ty’s voice was low but urgent. “Jupe! We’ve got trouble! Bad trouble!”
14
Wheels of Misfortune
“I’m locked in,” Jupiter said into his walkie-talkie.
Ty’s voice said, “Sneak out. Try the small door.”
Jupiter tiptoed silently through the dimly lit garage to the door. The big doors were padlocked, but the small door just had a deadbolt. Twisting the knob on the lock, Jupe slipped out and saw the pickup at the corner.
“Get in,” Ty said urgently.
“What is it?”
Ty was grim. “About fifteen minutes ago Bob drove like a maniac into the salvage yard with Pete’s girlfriend, that Kelly Madigan. She said Pete told her what he was doing at the car wash and all about Tiburon and the stolen cars.”
Jupiter groaned. “Pete tells her everything.”
“Maybe it’s good he does,” Ty said. “Kelly just found out that another cheerleader, Tina Wallace, is El Tiburon’s brand-new girlfriend! She’s going around with him all the time — and she knows Pete, and who he is, and all about The Three Investigators!”
Jupiter was stunned. “If she spots Pete — ”
“She could tell Tiburon all about him.”
“And she could spot him anytime,” Jupiter said.
“Kelly says Tina’s a good kid and that she probably doesn’t know anything about stolen cars. But there’s no way of knowing when she might just stumble over Pete and say something.”
They reached the salvage yard and the HQ trailer, where Bob and Kelly Madigan were waiting. The feisty, dark-haired cheerleader jumped up.
“Did you find him?” she demanded. “Did you get him away from there?”
“We don’t even know where he is,” Jupiter said. “You’re sure he’s left the car wash, Ty?”
“Tiburon came back and talked to him. Pete gave me thumbs up and drove off in the Fiero with Tiburon.”
“Then,” Bob said, “we’ve got to find him.”
“But how?” Kelly asked, looking at each of them.
Bob and Ty looked at Jupiter. Kelly sat down, almost in tears.
“Jupiter?” she said. “Please?”
Jupiter stared at the wall as if he could see through it. He began to pinch his lower lip with his forefinger and thumb, a sure sign that he was deep in thought. “We must assume Pete was being taken to work in the chop-shop. Therefore our problem is still the same — to locate the chop-shop.” Now he looked around at them.
“Not just if it’s in that garage, but exactly where. In fact, we have to get inside it ourselves.”
“Wait,” Ty said. “We figure Pete’s inside. And we figure the shop is in that garage. Can’t we just contact him and he’ll tell us where he is?”
“Yes!” Kelly cried, bouncing up again.
“No,” Bob said. “We don’t know for sure the shop’s in that garage. And we can’t risk contacting him on the walkie-talkies. We don’t know who could be near him and hear.”
“Bob’s right,” Jupiter said. “I think I have a plan, but it depends on Tiburon and the Piranhas being out of town tonight. Bob, can you find out — ”
“They are!” Bob cut in, triumphant. “I can’t believe our luck! I looked them up just out of curiosity. They’re playing at a multiband outdoor gig up in Malibu.”
“Chance favors the prepared mind,” Jupiter pronounced. “You looked it up because all our years of detecting made you realize we might need to know.”
“Whatever,” Bob said. “Why do we need them out of town?”
“Because I’m gambling that the Mercedes wasn’t the only car Tiburon swiped on his own and sent to the bodega,” Jupiter said. “And other people besides the band seem to drop off cars at the bodega too. Torres gave a horn signal when he took that orange Caddy to the garage so they’d open the doors and let him in fast. Pete told me Torres gave the same signal with a second car. And I think what Ty was told to say at the bodega is a sort of password.”
Ty watched Jupiter. “What have you got in mind, Jupe?”
“Tiburon’s out of town. We get a car and drive it to the bodega. We turn it over to Torres. With any luck, he’ll drive it to the chop-shop!”
“How will that help Pete?” Kelly demanded.
“Two of us will be hidden in the car,” Jupiter said. “I had the idea earlier, but it seemed too risky. Now we have to take the risk.”
Bob asked the big question. “Who hides in the car?”
“You’re the only one Torres doesn’t know,” Jupiter said. “You’ll have to drive the car. Ty and I will hide in the back.”
“After I deliver it, then what do I do?” Bob wanted to know.
“Get in your own car and follow Torres.”
“How do I get my car if I’m driving the stolen car?”
“Kelly drives it behind us and waits out of sight.” They each thought it over.
“Where do we get a car, Jupe?” Ty said. “Ours aren’t worth stealing. You want us to really steal a car?”
Jupiter looked at Kelly. “I thought maybe Kelly could borrow her dad’s Jaguar. That’d be worth stealing.”
“Dad’s Jag?” Kelly gulped. “Well, I mean, okay. If it’ll get Pete out of there. Only you be careful with it.”
“We will,” Jupiter assured her. “Can you get it now?”
She nodded. “I guess.”
“I’ll take her,” Bob said. “Show her how to drive my car on the way.”
“When you get back,” Jupiter said, “we’ll set the details.”
“Tiburon would need time to steal a car,” Ty said.
Jupiter nodded. “We’ll wait until midnight.” He looked around at them. No one said anything more.
“That’s it, then. We go at midnight.”
*
It was five minutes before midnight when the elegant Jaguar glided up to the bodega. The store was still open.
Jupiter was in the trunk. Ty, the thinner of the two, was on the floor behind the front seat under a stadium blanket and some cushions. Bob wore a baseball cap and his old glasses. Kelly was behind them in Bob’s VW, out of sight.